good morning. deep freeze from north to south, the great american cold snap continues bringing unusual snow and ice to parts of the country. now europe is feeling the chill too. an 8-month-old baby still missing nce the day after christmas. where is baby gabriel? this morning a live interview with the couple police are calling persons of interest in the case. and what lies beneath? a rare look inside the den of a hibernating bear about to give birth. we'll meet the mom-to-be, today, sunday, january 10th, 2010.

captions paid for by nbc-universal television good morning, everyone. welcome to "today" on a sunday. i'm lester holt. >> and i'm jenna wolfe. i was tempted to turn on the tv and see if the "today" show was on a two-hour delay or something. it was cold. i did not want to get out there this morning. >> i think it was in the low teens here. >> needless to say we were not on a two-hour delay, we are here. it's cold everywhere, not just here in the northeast. >> florida is caught in the grips of all this. record lows as far south as miami. temperatures dropped into the 30s there bringing snow and ice to many parts of that state. most of europe is also in the freezer where the coldest winter in 30 years is cancelling sports. the mercury hitting almost 20 below in some parts. our weather team has it all covered. we'll bring you all the latest in just a moment. then out west, they're assessing the damage this morning after a magnitude 6.5

earthquake shook northern california on saturday, knocking out power to thousands and causing damage to buildings and utilities. a lot of frayed nerves there this morning. we'll have a live report from eureka, california, coming up. >> cleanup in aisle 1, 2, 3, so on and so forth. we're also the political uproar with some racial comments made by senate majority leader harry reid about president obama during the campaign. we'll tell you what he said, how the president is reacting and what the fallout from all this could be in just a few minutes. also this morning, more on that case of the missing 8-month-old baby last seen the day after christmas with his mother. she is now in police custody but still so far no sign of baby gabriel. this morning we'll talk exclusively to a couple just named persons of interest in that investigation. >> but first let's talk about that extreme cold that continues to grip a lot of the country. we've got complete coverage this morning from the u.s. to europe and we begin in the south where unseasonal cold has florida residents trading tank tops for snuggies today. the weather channel's julie martin is there.

julie, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, lester. yes, freakishly cold weather expected here in the state of florida through monday and a hard freeze warning all the way from the panhandle in through plant city where i am. as you can see farmers doing everything they can to try to protect their crops from mother nature but fully expecting some damage from this cold snap, which is, by the way, been a week-long event. but now temperatures are going to get even colder, dipping into the 20s through monday. i want to take a look across the state of florida. flurries and ice reported as far south as miami yesterday. people using whatever they can to scrape off their windshields in florida. not something you would see every day. in fact orlando hit one of the coldest highs its seen in about five years. and several southern states just dealing with treacherous roadways as a result of this system. sheets of ice all the way from dallas in through st. louis in through atlanta. so, lesters are today we are still in the 20s here and again

going to be some sleepless nights for the farmers across florida all the way from citrus to strawberries. >> so strange to hear the word flurries and florida in the same sentence. weather channel's julie martin. julie, thank you. so is there any hope in sight for ending this deep freeze? janice huff is upstairs. tell us the good news. >> well, there is good news and hope in sight. it is going to warm up but not today. the temperatures around the region right now range from 1 degree above 0 in chicago to 36 in miami. with the wind in miami, the windchills are in the 20s there. you can see the cold air encompasses at least three-quarters of the nation. the reason why is this arctic high-pressure system which has moved a little farther south than usual. from the gulf coast down to florida,s you're seeing unusually cold weather there. the arctic air will moderate the next couple of days. temperatures will warm up back to near average and there is some slow improvement for the rest of this week so most of us will climb out of the deep

freeze. more on the forecast coming up in just a few minutes. back to you. >> we'll take that. but we're not the only ones feeling the big chill. it is no picnic over in europe either. tom is in london along the river with more. >> reporter: good morning, jenna. weather experts say the atlantic jetstreams may have been displaced, others blame el nino, but everyone agrees it's very cold. this is a nasa picture from space showing britain completely covered by snow and ice. it's the coldest winter in 30 years. major sporting event have been cancelled, soccer stadiums are empty. heavy snow has disrupted train schedules, delayed or cancelled hundreds of flights and blocked roads. supplies of sand and salt to deice highways are running dangerously low. normally britain's winters are moderate with lots of rain, but this three-week cold snap has got everyone unprepared. >> cold. it's very cold indeed. as long as you keep your heat on

and hot water going in the pipes it's survivablsurvivable. >> reporter: the misery is shared by millions as arctic winds sweep down from the north. in norway 19 degrees below 0. it didn't stop a young bride groom celebrating his stag party by going swimming. in holland skaters turned out for a 15-mile race. in france, it's a winter wonderland, but not quite cold enough to make paris lose its charm. >> it is cold, but it's also very romantic. >> reporter: in germany, trucks are backed up on the highways and there are long delays at airports. >> we don't know when, when we'll be in poland, so we are angry. >> reporter: weather forecasters say a block of cold air has stalled over northern europe. the big chill looks likely to continue. when the snow finally melts, there may be other problems, floods. >> tom, thank you. now let's send it back over to

lester. now to that 6.5 magnitude earth wake that rattled far northern california saturday. they're still feeling the aftershocks this morning as officials try to assess the damage. garvin from kntv is up in eureka, california, with the latest. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, lester. even by california standards this part of the state gets more than its fair share of earthquakes but even for earthquake veterans, yesterday's was pretty scary. we'll show you some of the damage in old town eureka. you see that old brick building. part of the side has crumbled away. much more typical damage right across the street in a back store downtown on 2nd street. they're going to have a lot of work today cleaning up all that stuff that's fallen off the shelves. let's get to the latest numbers on this. we've had more than a dozen aftershocks since the 6.5, including one of 4.1 that we felt just within the past two hours. damage, as you can see, mostly broken windows, things off store shelves and off walls, no

serious injuries but a number of people have head injuries from things falling on their heads. people experience a lot of earthquakes, they said when this one started yesterday, they said just another earthquake. as it got stronger, up to 6.5 and lasted longer, as long as 30 seconds, people said they really got freaked out. more than one person told us they thought this was the end for them. and power outage is a problem in earthquake. from a peak of 25,000 without power yesterday, the local utility company has whittled that down to only about 3400 people. lester, they say they expect to have all them back online sometime today. >> garvin thomas, thanks very much. now here again is jenna. thanks. turning to politics, and a controversy involving senate majority leader harry reid. he already faces a tough re-election in his home state of nevada. and now revelations about some private comments he made about president obama's race during the campaign are causing a stir. more now from nbc's mike vacara.

>> reporter: leading up to the election in 2008, harry reid, leading senate democrat and vital obama ally made a case for his fellow senators presidential prospects in racially charged terms. as reported in the new book "game change" reid privately said the nation is ready for a black president, especially one as, quote, light-skinned as obama who speaks, quote, with no negro dialect unless he wanted to have one. soon after his quotes became public, reid issued a statement saying i sincerely apologize for offending any and all americans, especially african-americans for my improper comments. already behind in recent polls at home in nevada as he fights to win re-election to the senate later this year, reid has worked closely with the president to guide the administration's agenda through congress, with health care reform still in the balance. mr. obama was quick to accept

reid's apology after the senator called him saturday, saying as far as i'm concerned the book is closed. now as congress prepares to return to session this week, many will be watching to see if a weakened and vulnerable reid can still be effective. david gregory is moderator of "meet the press." he's in los angeles. good morning, good to see you. >> reporter: good morning. >> you could argue apology issued, apology accepted, but harry reid has high negatives in polling back in nevada. how might this affect him? what's the concern? >> reporter: well, he's already vulnerable and he's going to have to campaign in a senate re-election bid on health care reform which could be difficult in a state like nevada. so this doesn't make things any easier. his top advisers do say, however, that he has no plans to resign. has not considered that. has got the backing of the white house thinks that this is a much

different situation than trent lott faced when he was ousted as majority leader because in part he dealt with what an adviser said was a very quick and forth right way. >> you mentioned health care which has certainly dominated the headlines in the fall and early winter and the attempted terror attack. but where do things stand right now? the senate approved, the house has aversion, what's the hold-up in the two sides reconciling. >> reporter: a lot comes down to taxes, who's going to get taxed and how much. there's competing priorities, the notion of a government plan, a public option that most believe will not be part of the final bill. so it's working through those very difficult issues in an accelerated way. the white house has really put the pressure on to get this done very quickly so they can get it before the state of the union. that's still the plan. >> i know some governors are not happy about what this plan means for them. one of them is governor schwarzenegger of california. you sat down with him for the program. what did he say? >> reporter: he considers health

care reform in effect beating up on states like california because of the extra costs that are involved in doing that. i think we actually have a clip from part of the interview. >> is that how you think about health care reform, something that would ultimately beat up on california? >> yes, it is. right now i just cannot imagine why we would have, like i said, for instance, our senators and congressional people, how they would vote for something like that, that they're representing nebraska and not us. by the way, that's the biggest rip-off. that is against the law to buy a vote. >> you're talking about senator nelson. >> senator nelson. that's like buying a vote. i'm not giving my vote unless i get some extra kind of benefits here. i mean if you do that in sacramento, you know, you'll be sued. it is illegal to do that, to buy votes. >> what's hard here, leslester,

he's talking about expanding the medicaid roles in california. it costs the state a lot of money. the deal they got in nebraska is the federal government will pick up the tab for that expansion. here in california the governor is saying i've got a $20 billion shortfall and i've got to do this? he said the president should rethink how he's doing it. >> david, thanks very much. now let's head over to nora o'donnell at the news desk for a check of the other headlines. >> good morning, everyone. we begin with bank bonuses on wall street now expected to be bigger and more controversial than ever. "the new york times" reports goldman sachs is expected to pay employees an average of almost $600,000, saying last year was one of its most profitable. employees at jpmorgan chase will see an average of $450,000. many executives are bracing for more scrutiny of pay from washington as well as officials who demanded the banks disclose details about their bonus payments. three of the seven cia

workers killed by a suicide bomber in afghanistan have been laid to rest. hundreds turned out for services in massachusetts, ohio and washington state saturday. the cia workers were killed in an ambush by an al qaeda operative acting as an informant. police in milwaukee this morning are looking for the person who threw a molotov cocktail at a gas station attendant. the masked man was aiming for the clerk but narrowly missed a customer. see that? no one was hurt. police say the motive wasn't robbery but retaliation for the recent arrest of a robbery suspect at that very same gas station. finally, have you had enough of that christmas fruitcake? well, in one colorado town it's an annual tradition to toss and play football with the fruitcake nobody wants. contestants were judged on distance, accuracy and catching. yeah, it's the 15th year of tossing that traditional treat. that's the news. now back to lester, jenna and janice. i tried to get a fruitcake. there just wasn't one in house.

>> they're stale. >> i used to think we were a society that thought of >> it is called out there this morning. 17 degrees and 54% humidity with northwest winds that will make it feel like 10 degrees. plenty of sunshine and not as

now here's lester. >> janice, thanks. coming up, the latest on that 8-month-old baby missing since the day after christmas. when we come back, an exclusive interview with the couple police are calling persons of interest in this case.

authorities are still trying to figure out what happened to 8-month-old baby gabriel who was last seen the day after christmas. an arizona couple, tammi and jack smith, have been named persons of interest in that case. they claim the little boy's mother offered to have them adopt the boy, but the child's father was against it. that was last month, and now the mother is in jail and baby gabriel is missing. joining us now live in an exclusive interview this morning is jack and tammi smith. good morning to you both. >> good morning, jenna. >> so earlier this week, police named you and your husband persons of interest in this case and you voluntarily underwent a polygraph test. can you tell us how that went and if you received the results yet? >> we haven't received the results yet. pretty much it's never like coming out of the room with a graded paper. but it is going to come out exactly like we knew it was going to come out and that's what they told us basically to

say. that it don't lie and it is what it is. so we're -- we know the truth and so soon everybody will know the truth. >> jack, i want to mention you voluntarily, again, you voluntarily went in for this polygraph test. you were not asked to. can you tell us why you decided to do that? >> well, because again, our focus here is to find this baby. let's get beyond this. let's -- you know, if -- being persons of interest from our perspective, we were the last people to see the baby before it left arizona. so why wouldn't we have been a person of interest? so we were talking with the detectives. i mentioned to them, well, will a polygraph clear all this up? they said of course. they said please get it over here tomorrow. >> you say -- >> and it took a week and a day. >> you say you were the last or some of the last to see the baby. do you think that's why authorities are naming you two persons of interest in this case? is there anything else you can think that you may have told authorities that would lead them

to naming you persons of interest? >> they were telling us basically they think we have some cognitive memories, which are memories that are not just sitting there that we're hiding but they're memories stuck in our memory bank that maybe if we went through some body talk that, you know, we could get those memories pulled out of our memory bank, something she might have said that was so insignificant to us at the time but who knows, it could be a clue to finding him. >> do you two know where this little baby is? do you have any other information? >> not any information that we haven't already disclosed to the fbi, and i believe pretty much everything has been disclosed to you all too. >> the first part of that question was do we know where he is. absolutely not. i wish we did. this would all be over. >> i want to give briefly a little background. you were supposed to adopt baby

gabriel last month but elizabeth said the baby's father wanted to rescind the offer. then she runs away with the baby and says she gives the baby to another couple. there's a lot of things that happened here. do you believe elizabeth? how much of that story do you both believe? >> well, certainly the further we go into this, the more we're questioning the credibility of what elizabeth is saying at this point. i think you can understand that. in the very beginning we looked at the facts. the facts were a woman was at the end of her rope and needed to, i guess, relieve herself of the responsibility and we were trying to do that, but there was no -- nothing else in there and we were going to do due process. it was months -- it would have been months away before the process would have gone through. so we knew we had time to really see what was going on here. >> jack and tammi smith, our hopes and prayers are with you an everyone hoping to find this baby again. we thank you both for your time. >> let's find this baby. >> and we'll be right back after these messages.

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still to come, a rare look inside the den of a hibernating bear with cubs on the way. >> on purpose. and move over cliff huxtable, why today's middle-aged man has a lot more issues than the good old days. first these messages. after you take it off! thermacare® delivers heat that penetrates deep, to relax, soothe and unlock tight muscles. after the heat gets really deep, my muscles do feel loose. even after i took thermacare® off, my back stayed loose for the next day. go to trythermacare.com and get up to 16 hours of pain relief... ...with thermacare® well yesterday i had an apple turn over mmm hmm, i know it's sort of my weakness -

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>> live, local, late breaking. this is w b a l t b 11 news today in baltimore. >> it is 8:26.

two girls are recovering at home after being rescued on kent island. "12-year-old girls walking on a greek culture the ice saturday afternoon. a neighbor who saw what happened called 911 per the fire department rushed to the scene and a family member described it. >> one of the firefighters came out carrying her. she had a blank look on her face like shock. >> both girls were taken to the hospital. the kent island fire department has had water rescue training, this was the first rescue for them. >> police and anne arundel county are questioning a man who struck a police officer. the officer was conducted a traffic stop when he was hit by a pickup truck yesterday. he was taken to shock trauma and is expected to survive. the driver of the pickup truck was arrested and no charges have been filed.

>> there is possibly a sign that bob ehrlich is considering a run for office. he urged residents to protest the administration's fiscal policy for the former governor says hundreds of protesters will not be enough. there is a demonstration for 7:00 wednesday night. when we come bac

>> the sun is out here on vote

radar and the satellite shows clouds out west. otherwise, does a nice quiet morning. let's take a look at temperatures of around the beltway. this represents the lows this morning. is 17 degrees at the airport. -- it is 17 degrees at the airport. these are slightly warmer temperatures around the bay and the urban area. high pressure -- from oklahoma right up into new york state is what is providing the cold air in our area. there is a disturbance this evening that will be coming out of the upper midwest and move in our direction. that changes the weather monday night. today, everything looks fine. it will be high around 30 with plenty of sun and will pick up clouds tomorrow and maybe a snow flurries tomorrow night. it will be dry the rest of the week. by wednesday, will be in the

40's. >> thank you for joining us. we continue in 25 minutes. another week, another frozen but loyal, loyal crowd showing up today. i'm jenna wolfe along with lester holt. still to come, right about now i feel like i could curl up and hibernate in a den like a bear but i only say that because of what story we're about to have. >> we talk about bears hibernating but it's something we rarely see. some incredible footage inside a bear's den as she sleepy peers

at the camera. of this particular bear is expecting cubs. >> she looks pregnant, right? >> she looks tired. also ahead, we're talking about midlife men. i don't want to assume anything but are you at that midlife crises point yet? >> i'm midlife. crises is a strong word. >> are you midlife bliss? are you happy -- >> i'm elated to be there. >> we'll take that. coming up, it's 2010 and "the new york times" is calling this the he decade as opposed to the she decade. gone are the days of ward cleaver. now tv's men are tumbling into midlife with doubt and stress. why so emotional and how do guys deal with them. we'll find out about all of that. >> i'm feeling great actually about my life. anyway, we want to get another check of the weather. janice huff is standing by with that. >> i love these ladies here with

>> it is 70 degrees with sunny skies and a light northwest

wind. it will make that 17 degrees below 10 degrees. there might be some clouds today you've got a message for all the alabama fans, right? >> roll tide! >> you can always check your weather any time at weather.com. now here's jenna. >> all right, janice, thank you. ever feel like escaping the winter cold by hibernating, like a bear? i don't know, have you ever really felt like that? ever wonder what they actually do when they disappear? well, now a new project by documentary producer doug highcheck offers a rare look inside a bear's den, thanks to a live webcam. in a few short weeks lily the bear is expected to give birth,

something never before seen in hibernation. doug is joining us this morning. doug, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> so the first question i have to ask is why? why would you want to enter a den where a bear lives to put in and install a camera like this? >> well, we want to know what in the world is going on in there. i mean since the dawn of man this has been a hidden world. we don't know what they do, we don't know how often they sleep, do they scratch all the time, just what goes on there. i personally was really curious about any hidden world, whether it's the bottom of the ocean or whether it's in a beaver lodge or in a bear den. >> you've done this before. this isn't the first time you've photographed bears. is this the first time you've done one who's about to give birth? >>. >> hopefully, we have no way of knowing for sure. but she's three years old next week so she should be pregnant,

she should -- she's very much up to weight, so she should have one to two to three healthy cubs. and we did it before in '99, but we just didn't have any cubs born, so it was considered a success, but also a failure. >> you could just call her ob and they'd probably give you that information. i'm just kidding. what was it like being in the den with lily and installing this camera? what was that like? >> well, i wasn't even in the den. nobody can get in this den. it was a very small den. it's basically an opening that she find of made under some logs and she rolled out a bunch of boulders and scooped out the area. but before we did that, she tried to make three other dens that were nearby and gave up on all three of them and finally settled on this one, thank goodness, because it was right by a power source so we had electricity. >> so what was the bear doing then while you were installing this camera? i understand she left, then she came back and i notice now she's not so happy with the camera it looks like, she's pawing at it a

little bit. >> yeah. you know, she just basically lifted -- she started out just by lifting her head and we probably had too many people maybe that approached the den. but the researchers have gone to that den before. she comes from a long line of researched bears. dr. lynn rogers from the north american bear center has had a relationship with her since she was a cub. and so the bear knows her, but i think there was maybe the camera people that were also there and the fact that she got a little bit startled, she did a little bluff and then just kind of wandered off, stood there about ten feet away from the den and we all kind of evacuated the area and hoped she would come back. >> and she did. >> she did, yeah. >> the coolest thing is this is live streaming video from this webcam. can people check in and watch this live? how do they do that? >> yeah. they can go to wildearth .tv or

bear.org and just click the player and it's on 24 hours a day and it's infrared so it's lit at night. the bear can't see the light, but the people can. and they can go there any time. there's full sound, which is really amazing. if the cubs are born, the first thing that will happen is people will hear their motoring signs and their whines and what not and the mother bear will really be attentive in taking care of those cubs. >> well, it's very, very exciting stuff. we thank you so much and are looking forward to the little cubs coming up. up next, men in midlife. that sound you hear may be panic. what happens when today's man lets his hair down. we're going to find out. first these messages. (jennifer garner) there's a lot of beautiful makeup out there

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for some reason they can be dirty words in our youth-obsessed society, middle age. eventually it happens to all of us. for women it causes anxiety. for men it's more like panic. lately guys have become a lot more open about what it's like when you're over the hill. >> next thing you know, you're tripping over bike buyings and your house smells like pop. >> in the new series "men of a certain age" three best friends are becoming unglued. >> is it me? what's your problem? >> midlife has struck and so have marital problems. feeling stuck at work and wondering what's the point of it all. >> you start thinking, you know, about work, about your life. the last thing you want is to look in the mirror and ask who are you. >> they are the latest in a string of introspective television guys. a tortured fireman.

>> he's really in the zone. >> yeah, the twilight zone. >> a detective with obsessive compulsive disorder. >> monk. >> and one very intense doctor. >> think. you've got me all figured out. you try and fix me now? >> "the new york times" is calling 2010 part of a he decade, like television's leading guys, tough and tender, humbled into their own issues with doubt and distress. >> tony soprano on the couch going into therapy and a lot of men looking into what it is to be a man. >> but what about in real life? we dropped in on a neighborhood bowling club in suburban chicago. no women allowed. >> this is really the point where you start reflecting back and thinking, okay, i don't have all the time in the world left. what do i want to do the rest of my working days. >> all of us go through these stages like, damn, how come we

can't do the things we used to do. >> the truth is it's all downhill after 40. >> but these down to earth midwesterners agree there are some rewards to getting older. >> over the years you've acquired a fair amount of wisdom, you hope. at least enough to provide your kids. other than that, not much. >> here here. >> here with more about men and their midlife issues are psychologist jeff gardier and journalist gail sheehy. gail, these new television men talking about their feelings and problems, is that a reflection of a societal shift or a hollywood script writers' shift? >> well, producers are getting older and dealing with these midlife issues but it's kind of universal. the universal preoccupation in middle life is where's the meaning. and so many men are searching, and that's a wonderful thing. the men that we see on television searching are showing if a mafia don like tony soprano

can be overwhelmed by anxieties and have to go to a therapist, then who's safe? everybody has to examine what they really want out of life and that means they have to get in touch with their feelings. most men that i've interviewed for that book didn't know even know how to talk about feelings, they didn't know the language. they knew happy, sad, angry. >> i've always felt, jeff, it's not even in our dna to talk about our feelings, but seeing these tv guys do it now, does that give the average guy more license to share these things? >> i think so. i think it's certainly life afirming, it's reinforcement. we watch television and in many ways we pattern our lives around the things that we see. life immates art, art imitates life and it's the reality. it tells us it is okay to talk about what our fears and anxieties happen to be. >> gail, you talk about the fact that women have a physiological marker in life. >> menopause. >> to really talk about but we

don't really have that. there's no bell that rings that says this is it. >> you know the bell that rings, many men waiting until the hammer falls. until something blows out in th body or their relationships, then they start to change. most men don't equate change with growth. that's the biggest problem. they think of change mainly as giving up, losing, failing. >> weakness. >> weakness. >> and that's why they don't go to doctors quite often because they're afraid of finding out something has happened to them instead of being more proactive and taking care of themselves. >> are men really reacting to what's happening in society? let's face it, men are not as powerful in our society as they were 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago and beyond. >> this came as a big shock, but 20 years ago men had no idea how to deal with this change. women were beginning to have a whole 92 vinew view of their li

and men didn't have a definition of what it is to be a man but they're really gaping it now. >> back then being a man was not talking about ush issues and now we're finding the new definition of being a man, especially a man going into his 50s, is about talking about uriyour issues an really that it's okay to get older. it's a time to reassess, a time to be stronger, a time to have more wisdom and a time to be able to set one self in life to accomplish all of the things you aren't able to do before that 50 midpoint. >> i would take issue with that. i don't think you can accomplish everything, or the illusions that you were in the your 20s. you have to give away some of those. >> you work up to that. it's working up to that. >> so your more authentic self. we all have a false face that we develop when we're young, get rewards and recognition. but we kind of drop that and go for more authentic self. >> gail, i agree with you. i think it's not an issue of when we hit 50 we look at everything we did before as, okay, now that's a separate life

and i have to deal with the issues of being 50. it's about working your way up to that. all of it is part of the progression of being a man and being an authentic man. >> i'm feeling better about middle age every moment this interview goes on. >> seize the moment and take it as an opportunity to go forward with power. >> it's all good. jeff, gail, good to have you both on. appreciate it. now here's jenna. >> thank you, lester. we have been having a conversation about middle age men and crisis. with unemployment in double digits, it might not seem like a good time to invest. despite the ups and downs on wall street, there is opportunity for those on main street. here with insight on that topic and on potential entry into middle age, no, ron. good morning. >> good morning. >> having some fun this in the morning. >> indeed. >> so i want to start with those unemployment numbers. so we're stuck at 10% right now.

can we truly see recovery without those numbers going down? >> not truly. the recovery started in the summer of 2009, to be quite frank. the unemployment rate typically lags a real recovery. corporate profits are up. we're seeing that the holiday sales figures were better than expected and, you know, in november, which is one thing that went little noticed on friday, we actually created 4,000 jobs instead of having lost 11,000. so friday's numbers, the loss of 85,000 jobs in december is a hiccup toward job growth in 2010. >> your book is optimistic for the average person who might be a little wary about getting back into the market right now. why is now a good time to get back in. >> march of'09 was the best time because we bottomed at the worst ebb of this crisis. for the individual, 2009 was largely a wall street affair. 2010 will be a main street affair where individuals should be getting in, buying distressed real estate in foreclosure, they should buy investment properties

because so far real estate, unlike any other asset class, hasn't even begun to turn so it's a great opportunity for individuals who didn't participate in the real estate boom of the last ten years. they can get in now. >> real estate one of three areas you say is a good place to invest. real estate number one. number two you say stocks. why stocks and where. >> if you look at the first calendar decade of the 21st century, the average stock was down a half percent every year for that entire period. it's the worst since the 1820s. so stocks are still relatively inexpensive. bank stocks, home building stocks, some technology and telecommunication stocks are quite attractive, some auto stocks. ford was gone from 1 to 11 1/2 in nine months and taking market share from their rivals so they're in pretty good shape. >> bonds, you say. specifically tips, treasury protect from inflation. can you explain them. >> these are bonds where the government bumps up your interest rate payment as inflation accelerates. if we are recovering and the

federal reserve has done the right thing in saving us from a depression at the end of '08 and beginning of '09, we might see a little more inflation going forward. unlike a regular treasury bond which would go down in value if we had an inflation scare, if you will, these compensate you for that so it's probably one of the best plays in the bond market right now. you don't want to own regular treasuries, you can go direct to the federal reserve and buy tips or an exchange traded fund, the ticker symbol is tip and it's a fund of treasury protected securities. >> if you have some money and a little time on your hands, you're okay to be patient, now is a good time, you can make some money. >> five to ten years real estate will be higher, stocks will be higher and tips will be a very, very good alternative to something like gold if you're at all worried about inflation. >> they'll be higher and we'll be older. >> and i will be officially in middle age isn't well, then you'll come back and join lester for that segment. >> this, by the way, is what happens when a middle age man lets his hair down.

>> what happens when a middle age woman lets her hair down. congratulations on your book, thank you very much. just ahead, the truth about food labels. you'll be surprised what the package is really telling you right after this. nuggle exhilar! it's the difference between waking up... and coming to life. drying off... and snuggling up. with a variety of unique scent combinations, like sweet blossom and pomegranate. exhilarating, tening-- and it costs less than downy simple pleasures! because everyone loves to snuggle! if your kids can go onward and upward no matter what. if you get sidelined from work. insuring your family's ifs can be hard to figure out. so metlife removed the guesswork, combining the insurances families need most, term life and disability, in one affordable package. find out just how affordable term life and disability insurance can be at metlife.com. and start building your personal safety net.

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this morning on the truth about food labels, walking down the grocery aisle you see a lot of promises on food packages about what's inside, natural and heart healthy to whole grain and real fruit. what does it all mean? lisa freeman is here to expose some of the tricks food manufacturers use in labelling. good morning, it's great to see you. >> good morning, lester. >> you want to do the right thing and you see whole grain. >> you think, wow, this is a great choice for me. i'm going to get plenty of fiber on this. but you look at the back of the

package and it's only got one gram. a reasonly good source of fiber has 3 grams. some of the fiber cereals have many times that. >> read the back. >> read the back or read the side and see where it says dietary fiber. >> here's another thing, less sodium. too much sodium is bad for you. >> that's right. you think oh, my gosh, less sodium. i'm watching my blood pressure. less sodium means this is a good choice for me but that's not true because less doesn't necessarily mean low. it just means less than the regular version. as you can see there's still many pinches of salt per serving. this is actually per can, so that's a lot of salt. >> a good source of calcium, what should we read on the other side? >> well, good source of calcium is not necessarily a great source of calcium. you might think i'll grab one of these bars and i'll be good for the day or i could skip that glass of milk. in order to get a full glass of milk's worth of calcium, you have to eat four of these things. >> so more than one serving. >> so you really have to look at the packet. >> so it doesn't mean it's not

in there, you just have to eat more. >> you've still got to drink your milk. >> what about this? >> you think made with real fruit. there's nothing that regulates that term whatsoever. it's meaningless basically. it might only have one or two or three blueberries in it, you don't know. if you look at the back of the package, the first three ingredients are basically sugar. >> then we have natural. natural always sounds like a good thing. >> i know. uranium is natural too, right? >> that's true. i love it. >> it doesn't mean it's good for you. you think natural cheetos. it may have a halo of health here, but this per serving has more than half of its calories coming from fat. that's more that this serving of fries from mcdonald's. >> what's the take away here. if you read the back of all of these packages, all of the ingredients and recommended daily values are listed. what's the take away. >> don't be faked out by front of the package label claims. go to the back and look at the nutrition facts and find out

what the real deal is. basically the front of the package is advertising. >> it's the hook. >> it's the hook to get you in there. >> lisa, great information. thanks so much. we'll be back after these messages. what's our favorite part of honey bunches of oats? the sparkly flakes. the honey-baked bunches! the magic's in the mix. my favorite part? eating it. honey bunches of oats. taste the joy we put in every spoonful. honey bunches of oats. we call the bunches in honey bunches of oats the prize in the box. well, now there's a prize inside the prize. pecans! pecans! baked into crunchy oat bunches. taste the delicious surprise in every spoonful.

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time for a check of what's coming up on "meet the press." david gregory joins us again. >> i'm out in los angeles this morning. a special edition of the program. we'll talk to the two political party chairs, to crystal ball this election year. of then an exclusive interview with governor arnold schwarzenegger. california really on the leading edge of this economic recession throughout the country. we'll talk to him about where he sees it all going. >> all right, david. thank you. that's it for us on this sunday morning. norah thanks for being with us. >> i'm see you tonight for nbc

nightly news. the have a great day. >> up nexty brown will be live in our studio. plot time to winterize your hair parted -- plus, time to winterize your hair. >> the cold water continues this morning. there may be a solution down t